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Conversation: 435-040

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Start Date: 14-May-1973 5:21 PM

End Date: 14-May-1973 6:45 PM

Participants:

Nixon, Richard M. (President)Buzhardt, J. Fred, Jr.Sanchez, ManoloWhite House operatorParker, Doug

Recording Device: Old Executive Office Building

435-040a.mp3

435-040b.mp3

NARA Description:

On May 14, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr., Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, and Doug Parker met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 5:21 pm to 6:45 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 435-040 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid:

Conversation No. 435-40

Date: May 15, 1973
Time: 5:21 pm-6:45 pm
Location: Executive Office Building

The President met with J. Fred Buzhardt, Jr.

       President’s election reform speech

       Watergate
             -Intensity
                     -Public interest
                            -Ervin Committee

Manolo Sanchez entered at an unknown time after 5:21 pm.

       Refreshment

Sanchez left at an unknown time before 5:45 pm.

       President’s conversation with Alexander M. Haig, Jr., May 14
                                               -29-


                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                         Tape Subject Log 

                                        (rev. October-2012)

                                                              Conversation No. 435-40 (cont’d)

      President’s record      

             -White House staff [?] 


      Ronald L. Ziegler 

            -Previous conversation with President 

            -Need for help with press briefings 


      Watergate       

            -Presidential papers       

            -Lt. Gen. Vernon A. Walters memorandum

                   -Ziegler [?]
            -Possible White House staff testimony
            -John W. Dean, III’s documents
                   -R. H. Shepherd
                   -Availability of copies to White House
                   -Committee to Re-elect President [CRP]
                   -Contents
                   -National security


***************************************************************** 


BEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1 

[National security]

[Duration: 56 s ] 



      INTELLIGENCE


END WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1

*****************************************************************


      Watergate      

            -Dean’s documents             

                                 -30-

    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                          Tape Subject Log
                         (rev. October-2012)

                                                  Conversation No. 435-40 (cont’d)

         -Hunt’s activities
         -White House response           

                -FBI        

                -Hunt, Liddy          

         -President’s obligation to national security information
         -Wiretapping         

                -Legality         

                -Compared to Lyndon B. Johnson             

         -Omnibus Crime Act of June 1972
-Leaks
        -President’s orders regarding leaks         

                -John D. Ehrlichman and Egil (“Bud”) Krogh 

                -Joseph C. Kraft          

        -Buzhardt’s conversation with Ehrlichman
        -President’s conversation with Ehrlichman
                -Possible wiretaps by E. Howard Hunt, Jr. and G[eorge] Gordon
                 Liddy 

        -Plumbers operation           

        -Legality of wiretaps           

                -Army Signal Corps             

        -Daniel Ellsberg         

                -Pentagon Papers
                       -Hero status
                       -Pulitzer Prize to New York Times
-Effect on foreign policy
        -Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT]
-White House activities after June 1972
-National security
        -Authority to order wiretaps            

                -President         

                -Court order         

                -Congress          

                -Secretary of Defense             

                -Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]

                -Secretary of State          

                -Attorney General           

                -President         

                             -31-

    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                       Tape Subject Log
                      (rev. October-2012)

                                             Conversation No. 435-40 (cont’d)

                       -Henry Brandon
-Possible White House statement
       -Justification for wiretaps
       -Disassociation from Watergate break-in
       -Hunt and Liddy
-Hunt’s and Liddy’s activities
       -James W. McCord, Jr.
       -Donald H. Segretti
       -Watergate break-in
                -Cuban nationals operation “cover”        

                -CIA        

                -Hush money [?]               

                -Charles W. Colson              

-Witness list for Ervin Committee
       -Colson, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Dean
-Possible immunity for Dean
-Witness list for Ervin Committee
       -Possible testimony             

       -Committee to Re-elect President [CRP] 

       -Liddy’s secretary            

       -Colson          

       -McCord            

                -Book          

       -John B. Connally [?]                

       -President’s conversation with John B. Connally 

       -McCord, Hunt              

       -McCord            

                -Book          

       -Colson, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman              

                -Executive privilege              

                       -Dean             

       -John N. Mitchell            

       -Jeb Stuart Magruder                

       -Colson, Gordon C. Strachan, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman 

                -Possible testimony             

                       -Executive privilege         

                                 -John J. Wilson        

                                             -32-


                    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                       Tape Subject Log 

                                      (rev. October-2012)

                                                                 Conversation No. 435-40 (cont’d)

                     -Possible White House strategies
              -Dean’s documents

Buzhardt talked with the White House operator at an unknown time between 5:21 pm and 5:45
pm.

[Conversation No. 435-40A]

[Begin telephone conversation]

[See Conversation No. 46-67]

[End telephone conversation]

       Telephone service         


       Watergate       

             -Ervin Committee          

                    -Legal research         

                    -Possible assertion of executive privilege 

             -$350,000        

                    -Haldeman’s role          

             -Ehrlichman’s conversation with Richard G. Kleindienst

Buzhardt talked with Doug Parker between an unknown time after 5:21 pm and 5:45 pm.

[Conversation No. 435-40B]

[Begin telephone conversation]

[See Conversation No. 46-68]

Buzhardt conferred with the President during the conversation.

[Begin conferral]

       Buzhardt’s location
                                              -33-


                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                       Tape Subject Log 

                                      (rev. October-2012)

                                                            Conversation No. 435-40 (cont’d)

              -Executive Office Building [EOB]

[End conferral]

[End telephone conversation]

       Watergate
             -Dean’s documents
                    -Amount of material in inches
                    -Length of a particular document
                            -Pages
                    -Possible content
                    -Authorship
                            -Camp David
             -Dean’s attorney         

                    -Partisanship         

                    -Democrat           

                    -Motives        


       President’s schedule       

              -Prisoners of War [POW] dinner 

              -Meeting with George J. R. Pompidou 

              -POW dinner          

              -Soviet summit         

              -Domestic issues         

                      -Wage and price freeze
                      -George P. Shultz

       Controversial uses of Presidential power 

             -Impoundment of funds           

             -Vetoes         

             -Congress          


       Watergate
             -Grand jury
                    -President’s conversation with Henry E. Petersen
                                            -34-


                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                      Tape Subject Log 

                                     (rev. October-2012)

                                                           Conversation No. 435-40 (cont’d)


*****************************************************************
[Begin segment reviewed under deed of gift]

       Smoking        

             -Ashtray        

             -Relaxation         


[End segment reviewed under deed of gift]
*****************************************************************


       Watergate       

             -Grand jury        

                    -Possible indictments
                           -Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Colson
                           -John J. Sirica
                           -Possible effect on Ervin Committee hearings
                                    -Samuel J. Ervin, Jr.’s comments
                                           -“Facts for American people”
             -Ervin Committee members

                    -Herman E. Talmadge           

                    -Ervin        

                    -Howard H. Baker, Jr.         

                    -Edward J. Gurney          


       President’s San Clemente property 

              -Santa Ana Register story 

                      -Ervin Committee        

                             -Denial
              -Leonard Garment
              -Robert H. Abplanalp
              -Allegations of misuse of campaign funds
                      -Garment

Parker talked with Buzhardt at an unknown time between 5:45 pm and 6:45 pm.
                                            -35-


                  NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                      Tape Subject Log 

                                     (rev. October-2012)

                                                            Conversation No. 435-40 (cont’d)

[Conversation No. 435-40C]

[Begin telephone conversation]

[See Conversation No. 46-69]

[End telephone conversation]

       Watergate        

             -Buzhardt’s previous telephone call 

             -Sirica’s actions        

             -Dean’s documents           

                     -Sirica
                             -Possible motives
                     -Possible threat to Presidency
                             -Haldeman, Ehrlichman
             -Funds for defendants
                     -Thomas A. Pappas
                             -Possible guilt
                     -Motives of participants
                     -Million dollar fundraising
                             -[Unintelligible name]
                     -Dean
                             -Knowledge
                     -William O. Bittman’s demand for $120,000
                             -Hunt
                     -President’s conversation with Dean, March 21
                     -Bittman’s demand of Paul L. O’Brien
                     -Blackmail
                     -Hunt and Liddy
             -Dean
                     -Relationship with Ehrlichman
                     -Position of President’s counsel
                     -Activities in Watergate investigation
                             -Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]
                     -Ziegler
                     -Possible actions
                                 -36-

     NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                         Tape Subject Log
                        (rev. October-2012)

                                                  Conversation No. 435-40 (cont’d)

       -Possible immunity               

                 -Impact of Senate testimony           

                 -Ehrlichman             

       -Possible actions
-Immunity
       -Special Prosecutor
                 -Transactional immunity          

       -Haldeman and Ehrlichman                

       -President’s conversation with Petersen            

                 -Incentive to lie
                         -Peterson’s concern         

       -Hunt and McCord                

       -Dean’s possible actions            

                 -Justification of testimony to Special Prosecutor
                 -John J. Wilson’s possible response
-Haldeman’s, Ehrlichman’s, and Colson’s future
       -Contact with White House
       -President
                 -Lawrence M. Higby
       -Buzhardt
-Executive privilege
       -Perception of cover-up
-Statements by Haldeman and Ehrlichman
-Need for chronology
-Ervin Committee hearings
       -Effect on possible trials          

                 -Mitchell          

                 -Compared with Bobby G. Seale’s trial 

                 -Sirica        

                 -Jury trial         

                         -Juror’s race         

                 -Christian Science          

                 -Ehrlichman             

       -Unknown woman [?]
-Possible trials
       -Obstruction of justice
       -Conspiracy
                               -37-

    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                        Tape Subject Log
                       (rev. October-2012)

                                                Conversation No. 435-40 (cont’d)

-Grand jury
       -Petersen
               -Certainty of case
       -Indictments
-Ehrlichman and Haldeman
       -Walters
       -L[ouis] Patrick Gray and Richard M. Helms
       -Helms
       -Walters’s conversation with Gray
       -Dean
               -CIA involvement            

       -Walters         

       -Gen. Robert E. Cushman, Jr.’s statement 

               -Date confusion
       -Ehrlichman’s alleged conversation with Cushman 

               -Departure for California          

               -Krogh          

-Break-in at Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office
       -Colson
       -Hunt
       -Cushman
       -Possible legal penalties
               -Intent of break-in         

                       -Breaking and entering           

                       -Burglary         

                       -Copying documents           

                       -Misdemeanor           

                               -Felony          

               -California law         

               -Krogh          

               -Dean         

               -Hunt         

       -Timing of Ehrlichman’s knowledge              

       -President’s conversation with Petersen            

               -Film        

                       -FBI        

               -Dean         

                               -38-

    NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

                        Tape Subject Log
                       (rev. October-2012)

                                                Conversation No. 435-40 (cont’d)

                        -Conversation with Peterson, April 15
                        -Conversation with President, March 21      

       -President’s conversation with Kleindienst         

       -Photograph           

               -Psychiatrist’s office
               -Handling by Justice Department         

                        -Hunt          

                        -Petersen        

                        -Embarrassment           

       -Dean’s knowledge             

               -Kleindienst          

               -Petersen         

               -John J. Martin [?]         

               -Buzhardt’s testimony           

               -President’s conversation with Petersen        

               -Ehrlichman             

       -Accusations against Buzhardt             

               -William M. Byrne, Jr.           

               -Buzhardt’s testimony           

                        -Ellsberg’s hearing
                        -Document
                                -Public Affairs office
                                -Author’s testimony
       -Byrne
       -United States Attorney Dave Nissen
-Haig and Henry A. Kissinger
       -Wiretaps
-Dean’s documents
       -Buzhardt’s instructions
               -Bob Frankel
       -Possible contents          

               -Presence of classified information        

               -Executive privilege          

       -Earl J. Silbert        

       -Timing of delivery of information to White House 

       -Possible contents          

-Dean
                                             -39-


                   NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM 


                                      Tape Subject Log 

                                     (rev. October-2012)

                                                            Conversation No. 435-40 (cont’d)

                     -Motive for production of documents
                            -Possible contents
                                    -Relation to wiretaps
                            -Immunity         

              -Ehrlichman’s knowledge of Ellsberg break-in 

              -Dean’s documents         

                     -Possible advantage to White House
                            -Dean’s testimony
                     -Value to possible defendants
                            -Wilson and David Shapiro
              -Dean
                     -Sensationalism
                     -President’s involvement
                     -Contacts with President regarding Watergate
                            -March 21, 1973 meeting
                                    -“Cancer on the Presidency”
                            -Camp David trip

Buzhardt left at 6:45 pm.